Category: In The News

NOVEMBER 8, 2012 AT 2:35 PM, BY MELODY BAETENS

Last week, Big Rock Chophouse in Birmingham got rid of its 15-barrel, copper tank brewing system from the restaurant in anticipation of Griffin Claw Brewing Company.

Griffin Claw, 575 S. Eton St. in Birmingham, will be the new home of Big Rock Chophouse’s award-winning beers starting next spring. It will also be a bar and restaurant with a basic menu focusing on beer-friendly foods such as burgers and sausages.

Blue Stallion Brewing of Lexington, Ky., purchased Big Rock’s old brewing system to make way for the Griffin Claw’s state-of-the-art, Michigan-made brewing equipment, which will be installed in upcoming months. Owner Norm LePage says they plan to start brewing beer in the new facility as soon as February.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121108/ENT03/211080305

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2012, By The Lexington Streetsweeper

Many of you know that I follow the happenings of the dining and entertainment scene, especially when it appears to bring new life to our downtown neighborhoods. Sometimes I get in on the early stages while other just transition very quietly.  Such is the case this week.

After hearing very little about the Penguin Dueling Piano Bar, either good or bad, I went by a few weeks ago and found that the windows had been papered over from the inside.  Clearly there was a remodeling afoot.  Last weekend they opened as Paulie’s Toasted Barrel, with a decor of antique wood which hopefully will aid in the sound attenuation problem for the rest of the condo owners.  This is still a little of of the beaten path for many, but lets see what we can do for them.

LOUISVILLE, Ky., (October 15, 2012) – by John Wurth

LouisvilleBeer.com: Tell me a little about your team, and the experience behind them:

Blue Stallion Brewing: We have 5 partners involved in the brewery; Jim Clemons – chemical and process engineer, Nico Schulz – food science professional and brewer, Xavier Donnelly – MBA holder and e-commerce specialist, Kore Donnelly – MBA holder and finance officer, and Zac Donnelly – graphic designer and artist. Jim, Nico, and I have been brewing on a small scale for many years and Nico has worked as a brewer in a small regional brewery in Germany so we share a passion, not just for good beer but for how it is made.

We share many traits but more importantly we each offer experience and education to the team that would leave a hole if one partner wasn’t involved.

LB: Tell me about the name of the brewery:

BSB: We wanted a name that reflected the area and decided early that we wanted it to be related to the horse world. We did a lot of research on breeds and training techniques trying to find a name that fit us. We finally came across the legend of “Big Lex” – rumored to have turned blue from grazing on the bluegrass in the region. We also found that the most successful sire in the mid-nineteenth century was a stallion called Lexington. We even put a likeness of Springbok, “grandson” of Lexington on the logo. We liked how the Blue Stallion fit what we wanted in a name and are pleased with the response we have received about the name and logo.

LB: Have you secured a location yet? How are things coming along? Do you have an opening date?

BSB: We are happy to announce that we will be opening in a beautiful building at the corner or Third Street and Newtown Pike. The address is 610 W. Third Street and we plan to begin work on building out the brewery November 1.

We expect delivery of our 15 barrel copper brewing system on November 1st and 2nd and will have our hands full building the brewery and tasting room. We expect to be open by late February or early March but will have a much better idea once we begin work.

LB: What beers are you hoping to offer when you open?

BSB: We’ve developed a passion for the beer styles that originated in Germany and Britain and plan to open the doors with German hefeweizen, Scottish 70 schilling, and a couple of lagers. We have spent the spring and summer brewing pilot batches on a Brew Magic system and are refining our recipes now. We plan to begin offering more selection later in the Spring and Summer 2013.

LB: How many beers will be in your arsenal? What types of seasonals are you planning?

BSB: We plan to have 20 taps available at the tasting room at 610 W. Third Street and will eventually fill most of those with our beers, however we also plan to offer beers from German, British, and American craft breweries to complement our selection. We have several season beers in mind and will be making an announcement about some of those as we get closer to opening the doors, you’ll want to check out Facebook and Twitter accounts for more on that.

LB: Are you planning on bottling or canning? What about distribution throughout the state?

BSB: We have always planned to bottle our beer, especially our most popular beers and are working to have that capability ready as soon as possible after the tasting room opens in the Spring. We will be talking with distributors in Kentucky this Fall and will have our draft beer available in bars and restaurants around Lexington and hopefully Louisville soon after launch.

Of course we won’t be distributing all of our beer styles and folks will want to stop in to the brewery to try our specialty and seasonal beers.

LB: I love that Lexington is suddenly becoming a “beer town”. Can you talk a bit about why you think it’s growing so quickly. Are college kids wising up and drinking better beer, do you think?

BSB: Lexington has been primed to become a craft beer destination for years. The typical craft beer drinker demographics match perfectly with a large portion of the Lexington population. Additionally, the move towards buying locally made products has opened up the door to a business like a craft brewery.

The young people in Lexington are certainly switching to better beer earlier than when I was in school 10 years ago, of course it was a lot harder to find good beer back then – more craft breweries mean more people get exposed to good beer which is good for everyone.

LB: Each of Lexington’s 3 breweries is finding it’s own niche, and I think that’s smart. It leaves room for everyone, and furthers the options for good beer in a city the size of Lexington. Even though there’s been some turnover and “trades” in Louisville’s beer scene, it’s still a really close knit group of people who would bend over backwards to help each other out. Talk to us about how you see all of the breweries working together in Lexington.

BSB: We have a great working relationship with the folks at all three breweries and would like to thank them all for being supportive of us as we have called, emailed, and showed up unannounced many times to pick their brains as we developed our business plan. There will be an interesting synergy among the Lexington breweries for several reasons. First of all, we aren’t competing with each other; we are really competing with the giant national breweries that make lite lagers. The more people we expose to good beer, the more people will switch to drinking craft beer. Secondly our physical proximity will make drinking craft beer in Lexington an event and will begin to put Lexington on the map as a craft beer destination. The Jefferson Street / Newtown Pike-extension corridor will have all 4 breweries within a 2 mile drive, bike ride, or walk. Who wouldn’t be excited about that?

Originally posted on LouisvilleBeer.com

Published October 5, 2012

Over the past year, beer has become one of Lexington’s fastest growing industries. There has been some experimentation with beer in town before, and Alltech has managed to keep Kentucky Ale a viable and strong brand, but the new craft beer scene is something Lexington really hasn’t seen before.

With three breweries opened in roughly the last year, at least one new brewery on the way, numerous bars dedicated to craft beer and a home brewing store, the beer industry has shown up in force. Considering Lexington’s demographics, it was long overdue—the average craft beer drinker is highly educated and Lexington is rated as one of the most well educated cities in the country. Not only that, but Lexington’s art scene is booming and craft beer tends to move in to cities that place an emphasis on art.

The beer scene now seems to be thriving, but what is it like to start a business in the beer industry, and in particular what is it like to start a business focused on beer here in Lexington? To answer those questions we talked to Mike Vincent, an owner of Lexington Beerworks, and Kore Donnelly, an owner of Blue Stallion Brewing which is set to open in a few months. Lexington Beerworks opened nearly a year ago on Limestone and is the only home brewing shop in town which also serves as a great craft beer bar. Blue Stallion is still in the process of working out their location and hopes to open their brewery with a large tasting room and to distribute their beer to local bars and restaurants.

The beer business is, of course, still a business and there are a number of things to consider when starting one so I asked Mike and Kore some questions about why they really wanted to get into the beer business. Obviously, loving beer and brewing is a big part of it, but to start a full brewery takes a lot more.

Q: What was your inspiration and motivation for starting your business?

Mike (Lexington Beerworks): “Honestly, we wanted to do something interesting, and something that we loved. There’s a natural synergy between drinking good beer and the curiosity about what goes into it, hence the craft beer bar / home brewing shop.”

Kore (Blue Stallion Brewing): “My partners and I have wanted to open up a brewery for years, we have been making beer on a small scale for a long time and our head brewer worked for a small regional brewery in Germany. Lexington has long wanted more craft beer options and we are excited to be a part of the growing craft beer scene here.”

Q: What makes Lexington such a good place for beer?

Mike: “Lexington is a city full of folks that fit the craft beer enthusiast profile, and up until this point was underrepresented in terms of beer bars, brew shops and breweries. We visited Louisville a few times for inspiration and then knew that if we found the right spot in downtown Lexington we could start something as well.”

Kore: “Several things have helped set the stage for the booming craft beer industry in Lexington. The move towards buying local is a huge part of why we have seen several breweries open but the taste for craft beer has been slowly developing in Lexington for over a decade. People are getting tired of the homogenous yellow light lager made with corn and rice adjuncts and are expanding their palate by trying interesting beers made by brewers that aren’t interested in making the same tasteless beer we have had for the last 80 years.

Everyone we have talked to about this, from the local government officials, the bank, and people that have just heard what we are doing, has been incredibly excited about the idea. People want this to happen; it feels like we have so many allies to get this project off the ground. We have always talked internally about making the community our partner in the venture, we want to add to the culture and attraction of Lexington – but it seems like the community wants to be our partner just as much as we want to be theirs.”

I know I certainly identify with not wanting to drink tasteless lagers. And it’s not often that you see the kind of support from the community and local government to get businesses off the ground. On the other hand, there are certainly some challenges that come with any businesses and both Beerworks and Blue Stallion have had their share.

Q: What are some challenges you’ve had, if any, so far?

Mike: “EVERYTHING – but that’s what learning is all about. [You are] completely accountable and responsible for success or failure.”

Kore: “There have been several things that have gummed up the works a little bit as we developed our plan but the biggest challenge would certainly be finding an appropriate location for the business. One thing that became clear after months of research was how capital intensive a brewery is. This is probably a lesson that every business owner has learned, regardless of industry but especially true of a manufacturing business like a brewery.

Smaller cities than Lexington, such as Asheville, NC, have become wonderful havens for craft beer recently, and we hope Lexington can become one as well. It’s certainly well on the way there, but it will continue to require a lot of support from the community. Craft beer is an industry that adds a lot to the reputation of a city and can bring a lot of people to Lexington as tourists. Get out there, try something new (and not a generic light lager!) and support your local breweries and beer businesses. Much our vibrant art or food scenes, a craft beer scene can make Lexington a better and more enjoyable place to live.

Originally Published at Awesome Inc.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012, By Kevin Patterson

Beer is booming! But if you are reading this post, then that’s no surprise to you. With near fifteen percent growth for each of the last two years, many don’t know that the craft beer industry is one of the brightest sectors in a flimsy economy. Even in the sleepy Bluegrass Region of Kentucky, the sudsy trends are beginning to take hold. With two new breweries opening in the past year and two more slated for the upcoming months, Lexingtonian’s thirst for beer is emerging with force.

The collective patience that Central Kentucky portrays has impelled the beer scene. We who live here kid that we are always twenty years behind. What’s really happening is that we aren’t as swayed by rash trends or as adventurous as a culture as many in more progressive and daring cities. (Hell, we never even took sides during the Civil War.) This notion may explain why craft beer has been slow to evolve here, leaving our beer enthusiasts to revert to long travels, on-line trading or sales, or worse — buying the industrial domestic products are marketed on race cars and billboards.

Uneasy Beginnings

The mid-1990s saw the microbrewery trend catch fire with excitement, until they folded for similar reasons. The Oldenburg Taproom (Kentucky Brewing Company) and the Lexington City Brewery rose quickly and fell even quicker, mainly due to the large financial undertaking of the beers and facilities that their infant fan base could not support.

As the memories of those companies faded, many drinkers resumed their bourbon, wine, and cocktail trends. (It seems that the memory of those beers now is certainly greater than the support they got when they were open. The longer those breweries remain closed, the better their beers get!) What we didn’t know then is that eight out of every ten microbreweries were failing across the country — not because the beer drinking populous was digressing, but because they were getting smarter. No longer were we supporting poorly constructed microbrews and their money-grubbing cheap ale producers. We started to understand the differences between a watery hefeweizen and a high quality Franziskaner. We turned from grassy IPAs in favor of Goose Island IPA, and similar examples span the 100 or so styles of beer that were available elsewhere.

When the Kentucky Brewing Company and Lexington City Brewery closed, it provided a void of local options. But that same void made Lexington attractive to the quality breweries who remained in the local market — Goose Island Brewery, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Stone Brewing Company, Dogfish Head Brewery, and later Three Floyds Brewing Company and Founders Brewing Company. With free reign on a community of a highly educated, half-million population of largely young professionals with a thirst for beer, these breweries enjoyed great success. The bourbon-insired “loose” alcohol laws, no alcohol cap, and easy access along I-64/I-75 all made it easy for breweries to get their libations to Bluegrass connoisseurs.

Craft Beer Grows at the Pub Scene

Although the defunct local breweries bit off more than they could chew, a few bright spots for beer remained. Quality beer bars like Marikka’s Bierstube and Pazzo’s Pizza Pubbecame the conduit for getting the flavors to customers with dedication to the craft beer market and a pleasant atmosphere. In that ten-year span, a few existing pubs began adding quality bottles and taps to their portfolio while theChase Taproom and a few chains like BHG’s The Pub andOld Chicago sprout up periodically. Still, the region had not dedicated itself to the building beer culture that was on full display in similar-sized towns like Eugene, OR, Boulder, CO, or Asheville, NC.

Alltech Buys In

Residing under the radar was Alltech’s Lexington Brewing Company, also known as the “Kentucky Ale” brewery, which was a resurrection of the nostalgic Limestone Brewery that closed a few years prior. Famed for their Hemp Ale and Limestone Ale, Limestone Brewery prided themselves in local limestone-rich water, indigenous ingredients, and surly personalities, however their quality and consistency never measured up. Thus, much of their beer was enjoyed as novelty and never really taken seriously.

The residual effect of the Alltech purchase was a microbrewery that operated according to older and more traditional brewing models. To pay homage to the frequently defiant Lexington Brewing Company, which had operated prior to, after, and actually during prohibition, Alltech’s operation took on the namesake for their brewery. Kentucky Ale came out first, followed by Kentucky Light (Kölsch-style ale) and Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. These brands soon became flagships that Lexingtonians could call their own. With a sparse one-off release for the Pro-Am division of the Great American Beer Festival or a whimsical notion at trial-and-error, the brewery only timidly accepted the craft beer culture that was developing a local flare and the brewery remains somewhat remote and disconnected from their fans.

The Movement Accelerates

All those conservative notions, however, have changed in the past few years. Starting with the 2010 opening of The Beer Trappe by the same family who owns Pazzo’s, the craft beer scene exploded and beer was not only openly acceptable again; it was thriving! Now known as one of the Top 100 Beer Bars in America by Draft Magazine and one of two Kentucky beer establishments mentioned in Christian DeBenedetti’s “The Great American Ale Trail,” The Beer Trappe became a catalyst for aspiring craft beer enthusiasts turn entrepreneurs. Its dedication to craft beer culture is inspired by Belgium and inspires like-minded venues like Lexington Beerworks, a bottle and homebrew shop doing for downtown Lexington what The Beer Trappe does for the Chevy Chase neighborhood.

Danville Makes Its Mark

With growth, however, come growing pains. As the frenzy of craft beer escalated across the country, many breweries that enjoyed tremendous success in the region begin retracting their products — not because the interest floundered, but because the demand for their products closer to home required that breweries shift their distribution. The exodus of Flying Dog, Great Divide, and others became a gleaming opportunity of a new breed of beer business owners. Now the time is right — high interest and low competition fuels the opportunity for microbreweries to flourish in Lexington once again.But let’s not overlook the inspiration of what was happing a half-hour’s drive south of Lexington. The opening of two smaller nano-breweries in Danville elevated the awareness of hand crafted beer for the quaint but liberal college town. Beer aficionados flocked to The Beer Engine and Lore Brewing Company, which quickly rose from the recently repealed prohibitive alcohol laws. Along with V the Marketand Bluegrass Pizza & Pub, these daring artisans and appreciators started to introduce the craft of proper beers to an audience who rarely looked up from King of Beers or wines with a Kangaroo on the label.

Lexington Gets Two New Breweries

Enter Country Boy Brewing Company and West Sixth Brewing Company. Both opening within the past seven months, they now have a few locally produced beers of their own. Each of these breweries embrace the community in charming and unique ways. A visit to Country Boy’s taproomseems more like going over to your ole buddy’s garage to brew with him and take on a few of their highly experimental beers. They certainly celebrate the rural attitude of the farmhands around the Bluegrass while situated steps from the University of Kentucky campus. The West Sixth brewery is the artistic and streamlined brewery that occupies part of a funky and hip culture of beer and straddles your comfort zones with art and flavor. Both are best enjoyed at their respective taprooms, however West Sixth distributes cans of its flagship IPA. Both breweries keep the beer drinker’s attention with special releases and events that keep us all coming back.

Although Lexington’s beer culture has extended from what’s local to passersby and becoming a craft beer destination in its own right, I can only give brewers and beer-tenders a portion of the credit. I contend that the recent interest in beer stems from the bigger picture of the overall interest in all-things-culinary. Even in our struggling economy, we demand better, fresher food. We expect quality on the plate and we expect it at fair price and with low pretension. Even teenagers understand the taste of sushi; they know good feta from bad, and they understand that good chicken sandwiches should be whole meat. They are a new breed that knows not of Wonder Bread or cheese from an aerosol can. They grew up knowing that coffee is better at the coffeehouse and not from granular instant versions. More importantly, as they turn of legal drinking age, they know a world where craft beer isn’t only available, but is a better option. Their palates are much more equipped to developing interest in true beer flavor than our fathers and this upward trend has spawned a new type of dining experience — the gastropub.

A New Lexington Gastropub

The first of its kind, The Village Idiot, opened less than a month ago. The Idiot revels in its recommended pairings of gourmet burgers with American Brown Ales, duck sliders with American Pale Ales, savory date and bacon appetizers with Dopplebock, and bread pudding with Bourbon Barrel Ales. It’s no longer acceptable for a Sommeliers to tell you which wine to drink with marsala; now Cicerones explain the links and contrasts of the flavors in the dish to the flavors of the beer to create a culinary event that uses beer to heighten the sensation of taste rather than mindlessly accompany the plate. It’s a new way to enjoy beer in all its glory and Lexington has embraced it beyond measure.

More Breweries on the Way

Now slated to open within the next few months is the Glenn’s Creek Brewery, located in nearby Woodford County, and theBlue Stallion Brewing Company, which will focus on properly sculpted beers in the German and the British styles.

With all the chatter about more plans in the works, there seems to be no end to the enthusiasm and thirst among beer drinkers in and around Lexington. As someone who keeps a finger on the pulse of our local beer scene, I am asked daily if Lexington is nearing critical mass when it comes to our craft beer market. I excitedly explain that I don’t know where critical mass is, but I can’t wait to see what it looks like!

Originally posted on Local Beer Blog